From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 21:00:14 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] Direct from Cuba-04 August 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
PL's Direct from Cuba - Saturday, August 4, 2001
.
*Granma Denounces CANF's Public Relations Image Makeover
*Lawyers of Miami 5 Deplore US Attorney's Denial of Diplo Visit
*NY Caribbean Cultural Center to Make Documentary Filmed in Cuba
*Foreign Investments in Venezuela on the Upswing
*Veto to VAT Raise, Negotiation: Only Way Out for Guatemalan Govt
*Chile's ex-DINA Chief Manuel Contreras Under House Arrest
*US Continues Bombing on Vieques Despite Protests
.
*Granma Denounces CANF's Public Relations Image Makeover
Havana, Aug 3 (PL)--The Cuban-American National Foundation's recent attempts
to offer a more moderate image were described as a grotesque parody from the
story of the wolf dressed as little grandma, Friday.
Granma daily used these terms to refer to statements from a FNCA executive,
Joe Garcia, who asserted that apologies from one of the murderers of former
Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister, Orlando Letelier, were "an attempt to
establish a new model of the Cuban exile."
In statements Wednesday, Virgilio Paz, of Cuban origin and one of the
authors of the 1976 assassination plot that killed Letelier and his
associate, Ronnie Moffit, said that his participation in that bloody act was
"a very serious mistake."
After his release from jail, where he served only six years of his
twelve-year sentence, he stated: "At that time, I was 23, young and full of
ideas."
The paper recalled that the Miami-based foundation financed legal assistance
in Paz' case, and that Luis Posada Carriles, another of its notorious
terrorists, sent a large letter to The Miami Herald, in which he also denied
his criminal actions against the Island.
Posada Carriles was arrested in Panama on November 17, 2000, for plotting
the assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th
Ibero-American Summit. Cuba seeks his extradition for this crime and for
blowing a Cuban commercial plane with 73 passengers aboard in 1976.
According to Granma, "the FNCA admission of its protection, ties and
financing of unscrupulous criminals, such as murderer Virgilio Paz Romero,
confirmed a secret that everybody has already been shouting: its
terrorist-mafia character."
Whom will they deceive? So much impudence and so many lies will not be easy
to hide, not even when the wolf hides under a white sheet and from his death
bed dimly howls in repentance, Granma concluded. ECQ/
.
*Lawyers of Miami 5 Deplore US Attorney's Denial of Diplo Visit
Washington, Aug 3 (PL)--The order from the US Attorney's Office to cancel a
visit by Cuban diplomats to two of the five compatriots arrested in Miami
for trying to stop terrorist acts in Cuba and the US is senseless, legal
experts stated Friday.
Antonio Guerrero's and Rene Gonzalez' lawyers, Jack Blumemfeld and Phil
Horowitz, said that the fact their clients were born in the US is not a
valid reason to impede their meeting with officials from Havana's Interests
Section in Washington, which they demanded from local judicial authorities.
Blumemfeld and Horowitz consider the prisoners' different treatment unjust;
they who are defended by Cuban government as political prisoners subjected
to a biased trial, largely connected to the Cuban-American National
Foundation.
According to Blumemfeld, Guerrero's attorney, his client's birth in US was
an incident totally divorced from US Attorney Guy Lewis' exception.
He said that Guerrero was a two-month old when he returned to Cuba along
with his parents, after a Texas-Miami baseball season his father played, and
added "he was raised on the Island, but US legal authorities always place
obstacles."
Lewis asserted, "such people, known as double nationals, are considered US
citizens and do not have access to consular services from another nation."
The prisoners' lawyers did not see any reason for Lewis's suspension of
Cuban diplomats' visit in accordance with international laws.
Gonzalez' lawyer, Horowitz, asked, "Who is the US to decide for him? The
Cuban officials' meeting with their compatriots, isolated in Miami's Federal
Detention Center since June 26 -- 18 days after being found guilty of
"conspiracy," would be the first one since their arrest in 1998.
The five Cuban patriots' trial lasted five months, and US legal authorities
could not present evidence that justified their arrest, on charges that can
result in long imprisonment, including life sentences.
The three prisoners permitted a diplomatic visit will be transferred from
isolation for the visit, whose date is so far unknown. ECQ/
.
*NY Caribbean Cultural Center to Make Documentary Filmed in Cuba
Havana, Aug 3 (PL)--The legacy of Cuban music for the Caribbean and African
community in the US is picked up in a documnetary film which will have its
2002 world premiere in Havana, New York Caribbean Cultural Center official
Marta Moreno reported Friday.
Moreno, President of the Center which is dedicated to spread African topics
in US, told Prensa Latina that the film "Cuando Los Espiritus Bailan Mambo"
(When Spirits Dance the Mambo) talks about the impact that Cuban musicians
cultivating rhythms coming from Africa, enriched in Cuba, left in the city
of New York during the early decades of the 20th Century.
"When the Cuban musicians came to New York in the 40's and 50's there was
already an African tradition there, but Cuban musicians greatly influenced
the development of those communities and African beliefs with their Yoruba
and Arara chants, and they still do," Moreno explained.
File images of renowned percussion performers like Chano Pozo, Mario Bauza
and Mongo Santamaria mingle with comments by Cuban specialists in African
religious cults and ethnologists in this documentary film of 90 minutes
cosponsored by the Fernando Ortiz Foundation in Havana and the Cuban Music
Institute.
Moreno said that the documentary is in its final stage of filming and there
are only some interviews to complete with Cuban experts such as writer
Miguel Barnet, president of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation. TAC/
.
*Foreign Investments in Venezuela on the Upswing
Caracas, Aug 3 (PL)--foreign investment in Venezuela is on the rise,
according to the Venezuelan Trade and Industry Chamber (Venanchamp).
The information released by the organization contradicts statements by the
opposition and communication media, which wanted to show that the government
kept foreign investment operations out of the local economic panorama.
During the first semester this year, foreign investment in Venezuela reached
$527 million, stated the Chamber report, 66% from the Netherlands, followed
by Chile and the US.
Until July, Through July of this year, the telecommunications sector has
attracted 72% of foreign investments, while the manufacturing industry has
received 22%.
Venanchamp's statement are in accord with statistics from the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), which predicted a
growth of 3.5% for the Venezuelan economy, which is too much over exceeding
the 2% percent the organization predicted for the whole Latin America. The
highest growth predicted by CEPAL is in Cuba, where the organization expects
a 4.5% growth rate. TAC/
.
*Veto to VAT Raise, Negotiation: Only Way Out for Guatemalan Govt
Guatemala, Aug 3 (PL)--Cancellation of an increase in the Value Added Tax
(VAT) and a national dialogue of negotiation are steps the Guatemalan
government should take immediately, says Luis Chavez, from the Guatemalan
National Revolutionary Unity Party (URNG).
In statements to the press Chavez, who belongs to the Revolutionary Rescue
trend of UNRG, said that the VAT raise would only send the country
spiralling down into an unmanageable political state. In his opinion, the
VAT raise only affects the poorest sectors of the population, so he thinks
the struggle against such a measure is a fair one.
He added, however, that it is necessary to control the fiscal deterioration
and correct handling of funds, and said that economically powerful groups
have manipulated the VAT raise topic inorder to reject the Fiscal Agreement
completely.
That document was adopted last May as a sort of national agreement with
commitment from all the sectors involved in the country's economy.
Chavez contends that the "only way out" for Alfonso Portillo's government is
to initiate a great national dialogue promoted by all sectors, to avoid
making the situation worse.
On Wednesday, commercial and industrial activities were paralyzed in 98
percent of the country by a protest promoted by entrepreneurs against the
VAT raise measure. The measure has also been rejected by the citikzenry and
popular organizations, who also insist that those who have more should be
the ones to pay more. TAC/
.
*Chile's ex-DINA Chief Manuel Contreras Under House Arrest
Santiago de Chile, Aug 3 (PL)-- The author of Chile's participation in
Operation Condor, ex-general Manuel Contreras, is on his first day of hoise
arrest, accused of violation of human rights during the dictatorship, far
beyond his country's borders.
Ex-chief of the former National Intelligency Direction (DINA) or Chilean
Secret police during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, Contreras is under
investigation by Argentine Judge Rodolfo Cordova, who is examining his
involvement, and that of other high South American military officials, in
Operation Condor.
Contreras' order of arrest was ratified Thursday by Chile's Supreme Court,
which fixed a time limit of 2 months to the Argentine justice system for
extradition steps.
Condor was the key name with which dictators from Chile, Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia coordinated during the 70's and 80's to find
and exterminate political opponents in the region; national boundaries were
ignored in the operation.
Among the people responsible for crimes during that period are Augusto
Pinochet (Chile, 1973-1990), Jorge Rafael Videla (Argentina, 1973-1983) and
Alfredo Stroessner (Paraguay, 1954-1989) and other high military chiefs.
Contreras served a prison term of 7 years for his involvement in the
September, 1976 assassination of Chile's ex-Foreign Minister Orlando
Letelier, in Washington, DC.
Contreras' case was complicated when judge Juan Guzman Tapia requested his
preventive detention on January 29 because of the Caravan of Death Case, in
which he appeared as one of the authors of 75 murders and kidnappings. The
Caravan of Death was a military mission touring the country from north to
south a few days after Pinochet's coup d' etat in September, 1973, leaving
many people dead and disappeared, opposition members among them.
Contreras, who had asked for his parole, is now under house arrest in his
residence near Santiago, awaiting a possible extradition request from
Argentina because of the charges he faces there.
Argentinean magistrate Cordova decreed preventive detention for ex-dictator
Videla on July 10 and is preparing extradition requests for Contreras and
Pinochet, as well as four Uruguayan ex-soldiers who collaborated in the
secret detention centers in that nation.
Cordova also requested investigation of Paraguay's e-dictator Stroessner,
who has been granted political asylum in Brazil, US ex-Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger for their known links with South American dictators at that
time. TAC/
.
*US Continues Bombing on Vieques Despite Protests
Washington, Aug 3 (PL)--The US Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico announced
continued bombing for a second day on Friday, despite the inhabitants'
protests there, which threaten to spread civil disobedience to the rest of
Puerto Rico.
>From 08:00 local time (12H00 GMT) Friday, the firing zone chosen by US
soldiers was ready for military exercises from sea and land, which lasted
all day long the day before.
At least seven Vieques protesters remained on the site Friday morning,
intending to block the military exercise despite the failure on Thursday of
a group of civilians acting as "human shields" to halt the exercises.
Nevertheless, according to reports from the protesters, the wargames were
interrupted when some demonstrators engaged in disruptive tactics such as
detonating fireworks.
The group called the Workers Socialist Movement (MST) formed by doctors,
lawyers, teachers and even a sportsman, was the main protagonist in this
protest, to be continued for the second day onFriday.
The Pro Rescue and Development of Vieques Committee (CPRDV), another of the
coordinating protest groups, engaged in other disobedience actions in US
military installations Thursday night.
Two groups of CPRDV militants managed to facilitate the escape of 5 other
members who got into the firing areas and were chased by US soldiers.
The US Navy has conducted military exercises on Vieques, an island located
11 km southeast of Puerto Rico, for 60 years now. Three-quarters of the
island is occupied by US military installations.
Aiming to block the exercises, the Puerto Rican community organization said
some 23 demonstrators -- among them 7 professionals and some ex-presidents
of the Puerto Rico Lawyers College, would attempt to enter the firing range
and act as human shields.
Some changes in strategy are being considered, community leaders say. Ismael
Guadalupe, a CPRDV leader, Eduardo Villanueva, an ex-president of the
Lawyers College, and Luis Angel Torres, from MST coincided that agree that
extending the protests to the whole of Puerto Rico may now be a timely idea.
Two years of struggle against US military occupation in Vieques have
resulted in more than 1000 people being arrested, among them a number of
public officials, politicians, and international personalities.
Civil disobedience in this Puerto Rican territory has succeeded, observers
say, in disrupting US naval exercises and has turned the issue into an
international protest.
In a recent referendum on the issue, 68.2 percent of the population voted
for the immediate withdrawal of the US Navy from island, in an 80% voter
turnout, which is considered very significant by political analysts.
(c) 2001 Prensa Latina, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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